Part 1 (2/2)

Some teachers, especially in Sabbath-schools, see The measure of their success, in their own eyes, is their ability to keep up a continued streareater part of the hour This is of course better than the e silence so to say But at the best, it is only the pouring into the exhausted receiver enacted over again We can never be re except so far as there is active cooperation on the part of the learner The ets This is the indispensable condition ofI have ever seen, has been where the teacher said comparatively little The teacher was of course briive the needed inforht quantity But for every word given by the teacher, there werereproduction on the part of the scholars Youthful h and difficult achieve persons thus to bring forth their thoughts freely for exaentleto do with thethis end, the end itself is indispensable The scholar's tongue must be unloosed, as well as the teacher's The scholar's thoughts must be broached, as well as the teacher's Indeed, the statement needs very little qualification or abate froain in words The teacher who is accustoue his scholars with a continuous strea his wordshimself, if he thinks that his scholars are materially benefited by his intellectual activity, unless it is so guided as to awaken and exercise theirs If, after a suitable period, he will honestly examine his scholars on the subjects, on which he has himself been so productive, he will find that he has been only pouring water into a sieve Teaching can never be this one-sided process Of all the things we attempt, it is the one most essentially and necessarily a cooperative process There must be the joint action of the teacher's mind and the scholar's mind A teacher teaches at all, only so far as he causes this coactive energy of the pupil's mind

II

THE ART OF QUESTIONING

The measure of a teacher's success is not what he hi is thisa question to a scholar One teacher will put a question in such a manner as to find out exactly how much or how little of the subject the child knows, and thereby encourage careful preparation; to give the pupil an open door, if he really knows the subject, to express his knowledge in a way that will be a satisfaction and pleasure to him; to improve his power of expression, to cultivate his h and definite Another teacher will put his questions so as to secure none of these ends, but on the contrary so as to induce a ree of carelessness and inaccuracy

Let reater convenience from a scriptural subject Suppose it to be a lesson upon Christ's temptation, as recorded in the 4th chapter of Matthew The dialogue between teacher and scholar may be supposed to proceed somewhat in this wise:

_Teacher_ Who was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil?

_Pupil_ Jesus

_T_ Yes Nohen Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward a---- what? How did he feel after that?

_P_ Hungry

_T_ Yes, that is right He was afterward ”a hungered” Now, then, the next scholar Who then came to Jesus and said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread?

(Scholar hesitates)

_T_ The t----?

_P_ The teht It was the tempter Who do you think is meant by the tempter?--the devil?

_P_ Yes

_T_ When a , for forty days and forty nights, and feels very hungry, would the suggestion of an easytemptation to him, or would it not?

_P_ It would

_T_ Yes, you are right again It would be a strong teue further The reader will see at once how there may thus be the appearance of quite a brisk and fluent recitation, to which however the pupil contributes absolutely nothing It requires nothing of him in the way of preparation, and only the most indolent and profitless use of his faculties while reciting He could hardly answer amiss, unless he were an idiot, and yet he has the appearance, and he is often flattered into the belief, of having given soe and proficiency

The opposite extreme from the method just exhibited, is that known as the topical her classes of schools, and a more advanced students In the topical method, the teacher propounds a topic or subject, sometimes in the form of a question, but more commonly only by a title, a ive, in his oords, a full and connected narration or explanation of the subject, such as the teacher hiive, if called upon to narrate or explain it The subject already suggested, if profound topically, would be somewhat in this wise:

The first temptation of Jesus

Or, more fully: Narrate the circumstances of the first temptation of Jesus, and shoherein his virtue was particularly tried in that transaction